The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Ipomoea plant, botanically known as Ipomoea batatas, and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Fnpalblk’.
The new Ipomoea plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Lompoc, Calif. The objective of the breeding program is to create new compact and freely branching Ipomoea cultivars with attractive foliage shape and coloration.
The new Ipomoea plant originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor during the autumn of 2007 of Ipomoea batatas ‘Sweet Caroline Bronze’, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 15,437, as the female, or seed, parent with Ipomoea batatas ‘Sweet Caroline Purple’, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 14,912, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Ipomoea was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single plant within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled greenhouse environment in Lompoc, Calif. in March, 2008.
Asexual reproduction of the new Ipomoea plant by terminal cuttings in a controlled greenhouse environment in Lompoc, Calif. since April, 2008, has shown that the unique features of this new Ipomoea plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.